The United Nations mission in the Sahara is reorganizing parts of its leadership and operations weeks before the Security Council considers renewing its mandate in October.
The UN appointed Pakistani Major General Jawad Ahmed as MINURSO force commander, replacing Bangladeshi Major General Fakhrul Ahsan, whose assignment ended in August. Malawian UN official Ron Misty Kamwendo has also arrived in Laayoune to assume responsibilities within the mission’s civilian administration.
The leadership changes follow reported reductions affecting MINURSO’s staff, services and logistics. These include the departure of about 20 medical personnel, the replacement of four sector and division chiefs and the withdrawal of one of the mission’s two aircraft used for field travel.
The measures have not been publicly presented as a comprehensive restructuring. Taken together, however, they come as the UN reviews the cost, mandates and effectiveness of peacekeeping operations worldwide.
In a recent report to the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for clearer and more adaptable mandates, regular performance assessments and transition plans when the conditions underpinning a mission no longer exist.
“We cannot keep peace where there is no peace to keep,” Guterres said, arguing that peacekeeping operations should support viable political processes rather than continue indefinitely without a route toward settlement.
MINURSO was established in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and prepare a referendum on the Sahara.
The mission’s operating environment changed in November 2020, when hostilities resumed and the Polisario Front declared the ceasefire over following clashes in the Guerguerat buffer zone.
Morocco has also called for a broader reassessment of UN peacekeeping. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told a ministerial conference in Rabat in May that missions should have realistic, achievable mandates adapted to conditions on the ground.
The October debate will determine whether the Security Council renews MINURSO’s mandate in its existing form and whether operational changes affect its staffing, mobility or responsibilities.
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